INSTITUTIONALIZATION OF TECHNOLOGY

IN SCHOOLS CHECKLIST1
Catherine Awsumb Nelson, Jennifer Post, and Bill Bickel
November 2001

This checklist, based on both field experience and relevant literature, provides a conceptual framework to
help evaluators assess the extent to which technology is institutionalized in schools. Institutionalization of
technology is defined as the extent to which technology is integrated into the culture and classroom
practice of a school, rather than being viewed as an add-on program, and the extent to which school
personnel take ownership of the technology and its use. The checklist is grounded in the principle that in
order for technology to become institutionalized in a school, the school must develop the appropriate
human capital to use and manage it effectively in pursuit of the school’s core goals. The checklist is
organized around three sequential learning curves that school personnel climb as they develop the
capacity to use technology effectively: (1) Maintaining the technology infrastructure, (2) Building teacher
technology application skills, and (3) Integrating technology into teaching and learning. The three
learning curves overlap temporally but are sequential in the sense that progress on one facilitates growth
on the next. We anticipate that this checklist will be useful to both school personnel and evaluators
conducting needs assessments, program planning, and evaluation of school-based technology programs,
especially where the emphasis is on the capacity of the school to use technology in educationally
2
effective ways.
(1) MAINTAINING THE TECHNOLOGY INFRASTRUCTURE
! Comfort with routine glitches School personnel have achieved autonomy in handling common
technical problems (e.g., frozen screen, jammed printer) in their
own classrooms.
! Dissemination of technical Through appropriate training and support materials, all school
expertise personnel have acquired basic technical expertise. Technical
support is not viewed as “someone else’s job.” The technical
support function avoids overreliance on a few individuals, and thus
is less vulnerable to their burn-out.
! Specialization of roles A broad base of school personnel have attained in-depth expertise
in particular technical areas, making it clear whom to go to with
which questions and lightening the load on each individual.
! Flexible time Schedules are configured so that personnel with responsibility for
technical support have the flexibility to respond to problems when
they happen without compromising their own instructional
responsibilities.
! Routinized policies, practices, Technical support is organized to provide preventative
and responsibilities maintenance, not ad hoc solutions to crises.
! Strategic use of student Teachers are comfortable drawing on the technical expertise of
expertise their students and may give them formal roles in managing the
technology.
! Standardized configurations and Standardized infrastructure within the school allows teachers to
platforms work together easily to solve technical problems.
1
The term “technology” in this checklist refers to computer hardware, software, and connectivity.
2
For a fuller treatment of the content of each checkpoint, as well as the overall framework of the learning
curves, see the article by the same authors, “Evaluating Educational Technology Implementation: A Two-
Part Framework for Assessing the Institutionalization of Technology in Schools and Classrooms,” in the
International Handbook of Educational Evaluation (Kluwer, 2002).

Evaluation Checklists Project

www.wmich.edu/evalctr/checklists
! Adequate supply budget Investments in hardware and software are supported by adequate
budgets for the replenishable supplies (e.g., disks, printer
cartridges) needed to keep them operating.
! Stable funding Initial technology investment is supported by a realistic, ongoing
financial commitment to the training, upgrades, and support time
needed to keep the machines functioning.
(2) BUILDING TEACHER TECHNOLOGY APPLICATION SKILLS
! Broad training Mandates or strong incentives are in place to ensure that all
teachers, not just technology enthusiasts, receive appropriate
training in the use of computer software/applications.
! Quality of training Training reflects research-based best practices for staff
development, is geared to the needs of adult learners, addresses
teachers’ fears and concerns, and emphasizes the application of
technology to core instructional tasks.
! Flexibility and appropriateness Training addresses the full range of technology experience,
of training materials comfort, and development needs across the staff as assessed by
a formal diagnostic tool.
! Follow-up from training Teachers have the opportunity to receive additional assistance,
instruction, or clarification after initial training, particularly in one-
on-one settings.
! Incentives to apply training School provides formal and/or informal recognition and rewards to
teachers who apply technology training in their professional
practice.
! Plan for dealing with personnel New teachers receive training in the specific technology available
turnover in the school.
! Plan for refresher and update Teachers receive ongoing training to reflect updated technology
training and to reinforce and deepen their skills.
! Environment that is safe for School culture supports innovation and risk-taking, making
experimentation teachers comfortable and motivated to deepen their skills through
“playing” with technology.
(3) INTEGRATING TECHNOLOGY INTO TEACHING AND LEARNING
! Curriculum-specific training Training goes beyond skill development to address the specifics of
how technology can be applied to the substance of the curriculum.
! Mentoring/instructional support Individualized, classroom-based coaching is used to help teachers
make the link between the functionality of new technology and the
learning objectives of their curriculum.
! Attention to how technology Teachers have training and experience in how technology can
changes classroom dynamics enhance engagement, blur traditional teacher/student role
boundaries, and foster more inquiry-based and collaborative work
and are not fearful of losing control if they use technology to
create nontraditional instructional situations.
! Longer instructional periods Instructional periods are sufficiently long so that the logistics of
technology use do not compromise the substance of the lesson
and so that technology can be used for authentic and exploratory
tasks rather than rote learning.
! Teacher-student ratio The teacher-student ratio for technology-based lessons is
sufficiently low to provide adequate technical and classroom
management support while engaging students in complex learning
tasks.

Institutionalization of Technology in Schools Checklist 2

! Instructional accessibility of Hardware, software, and connectivity are physically located where
technology it is convenient for teachers to integrate them into the flow of
teaching and learning.
! Teacher comfort level with basic Teachers have sufficient hardware and software skills to (a) see
skills opportunities to use the technology as a tool to reach instructional
objectives and (b) be willing to use the technology with students
without fear of a lesson-derailing glitch.
! Student skill levels Students have sufficient hardware and software skills to avoid
instructional time being consumed by technical issues rather than
the content of the lesson.
! Planning time to develop Teachers have adequate planning time to rethink lesson design to
lessons take advantage of technology’s potential to deepen student
understanding.
! Collaborative planning time/ Teachers have structured opportunities to collaborate with and
opportunities to observe and learn from peers as they work to integrate technology into their
share lessons curriculum.
! Network of contacts beyond School staff have access to peers in other schools and/or outside
school experts to help them develop curriculum integration.
! Access to concrete lesson ideas Strategies and structures exist to facilitate the sharing of relevant,
high quality model lessons that can be applied to the school’s
specific curriculum.
! Link to curriculum standards Training and materials model how technology can be used to
reach curriculum standards, making the push for technology and
the push for standards complementary rather than competing
mandates on teachers.
! Content-rich applications In addition to content-free productivity software (word processors,
aligned with curriculum spreadsheets, etc.) that can be adapted to instructional tasks,
schools invest in technology with built-in content directly linked to
their curriculum.
! Student and parent demand Students and parents are computer literate and aware of the value
of technology and encourage teachers to utilize it.
! Student technology use School has explicit expectations for student technology use woven
standards and evaluation criteria into curriculum standards.
! Alignment of teacher evaluation Goals and incentives for substantive, curriculum-linked technology
system with goals for technology use are built into teacher evaluation criteria.
integration
! Administrative priorities Administrators demonstrate commitment to technology integration
through the allocations given to technology in schedules and
budgets, leadership through modeling technology use, and the
creation of incentive systems that reward instructional technology
use.
! Cooperation between district- Messages, activities, and incentives regarding technology and
level technology and curriculum curriculum are coordinated at the district level to reinforce that
staff technology is a tool for learning, not an end in itself.

This checklist is being provided as a free service to the user. The provider of the checklist has not
modified or adapted the checklist to fit the specific needs of the user and the user is executing his or her
own discretion and judgment in using the checklist. The provider of the checklist makes no
representations or warranties that this checklist is fit for the particular purpose contemplated by user and
specifically disclaims any such warranties or representations.

Institutionalization of Technology in Schools Checklist 3